World Cup match shows there's small interest in pay-per-view

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 | By Danielle Long

Perform claims close to 500,000 football fans viewed the online broadcast, significantly fewer than the reported 4.3m who tuned into the BBC highlights package on TV. Add to this the media reports suggesting just 250,000 users signed up to watch the match online and it’s hard to see it as the landmark event it was billed as.

While Perform has been keen to point out that a post-match survey found people felt the picture quality was satisfactory and would purchase another live sport event online, it neglected to reveal the sample size.

The industry largely took a wait-and-see approach to the match, with publishers reluctant to endorse the model as a potential revenue generator. And according to the few who watched, there were just two ads at half-time, which must have disappointed Perform.

Had England not already qualified it would, of course, have been a different story. As it was, interest in the match was already low and for many not worth paying for.

If Twitter activity was anything to go by, scores of unofficial streaming sites must have had huge surges for Saturday’s match as large numbers of users avoided paying to watch the game.  

Still, the event proved there’s an appetite for paying for online content – albeit a small one in this case – which is promising for the market. It would, of course, be much more interesting to see how a must-see event would fare online.

One company certain to be watching is BSkyB, ahead of the imminent launch of its Sky Player on Xbox. This will offer users subscriptions and pay-per-view access to its pay-TV content. When Sky brings its reach and compelling content into the mix, suddenly pay-per-view online looks viable.

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